ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH HERNDON, VIRGINIA Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God January 1, 2017

Saturday, December 31 8:00 a.m. + Roger Fabich by Adams-Green Funeral Home 5:00 p.m. + Tom Howard by his Family Sunday, January 1 - New Year’s Day Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God 7:00 a.m. + Connie Furlong by Theresa & John Wood 8:30 a.m. - Fr. Ivan Lebar, TOR by The Linck Family 10:00 a.m + Helen Dobranski by The Dobranski Family 11:30 a.m. - Living and Deceased Parishioners of St. Joseph Parish 1:00 p.m. + Elizabeth Schmude by Doug Schmude 3:30 p.m. - Spanish Mass 5:00 p.m. + Patricia Hudson by Bill & Kathy Wemhoff Monday, January 2 8:00 a.m. + James Thundathil by The Rosary Group Tuesday, January 3 6:30 a.m. + John Michael Buckley by Adams-Green Funeral Home 8:00 a.m. + Conrad Lacombe by The Lacombe Family Wednesday, January 4 6:30 a.m. + John Harold Selander by Adams-Green Funeral Home 8:00 a.m. + Joe Minton by Adams-Green Funeral Home Thursday, January 5 6:30 a.m. + Roland James Black by John & Tisha Hilliard 8:00 a.m. + Frank Hennessey by The McNulty Family Friday, January 6 6:30 a.m. + Albina Esparza by The Jennings Family 8:00 a.m. + Gilbert Valdes by John & Tisha Hilliard 7:30 p.m. + Jimmy McLaughlin by The Rother Family Saturday, January 7 8:00 a.m. + Robert Kasprcak by The SJS 6th Grade Green Class 5:00 p.m. + Roger Fabich by Mary Kirby & Family Sunday, January 8 7:00 a.m. - Living and Deceased Parishioners of St. Joseph Parish 8:30 a.m + John J. Quirk, III by Betty Schmude 10:00 a.m. + Walter Swiatlowski by The Karcz Family 11:30 a.m. + Agnes Kiopfenstein by The McNulty Family 1:00 p.m. + Sandy Edmonds by The Kindergarten Green Class 3:30 p.m. - Spanish Mass 5:00 p.m. + Nader Tashakkori By The Kimpflen Family

MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK

Blood Drive is Sunday January 22nd 7:45-12:30. The Inova Blood team uses our registration numbers to determine staffing. Please register to donate using spon-sor code 0116 at www.inova.org/donateblood, at the reg-istration table this weekend, or contact Paul Mich at SJCBloodDrive@aol.com. Please support this Knights of Columbus sponsored event.

Peace and good! As we begin 2017 – a new year – it is a good time to reflect upon our blessings of the past year and the prior-ities for 2017. I share with you the following insights from Pope Francis (2016):

Mercy is the heart of God. It must also be the heart of the members of the one great family of his children: a heart which beats all the more strongly wherever human dignity – as a reflection of the face of God in his creatures – is in play. Jesus tells us that love for others – foreigners, the sick, prisoners, the homeless, even our enemies – is the yardstick by which God will judge our actions. Our eternal destiny depends on this. It is not surprising that the Apostle Paul tells the Christians of Rome to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep (cf. Rom 12:15), or that he encour-ages the Corinthians to take up collections as a sign of solidarity with the suffering members of the Church (cf. 1 Cor 16:2-3). And Saint John writes: “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother or sister in need, yet refuses help, how does God’s love abide in him? (1 Jn 3:17; cf. Jas 2:15-16).

As we reflect upon the words of Pope Francis and our personal priorities for the New Year, I offer the following Franciscan blessing as we begin this New Year of 2017:

May God bless you with DISCOMFORT - At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, So that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with ANGER - At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with TEARS - To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them And to turn their pain into JOY. And may God bless you with enough FOOLISHNESS - To believe that you can make a difference in this world, So that you can DO what others claim cannot be done. (National Council of Churches)

May we continue to be open to the guidance and blessings of the Holy Spirit during this New Year! In the peace of Francis of Assisi,

Reference:

Francis. (2016, January 01). Message for the celebration of the XLIX World Day of Peace – Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Vatican.

ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH Visit us on our website! HERNDON, VIRGINIA http://www.sjcherndon.org * 703-880-4300 January 1, 2017

Dear Parishioners: As members of the St. Joseph Parish Advisory Council we would like to share a copy of our stewardship presentation which was delivered at all the Masses on the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Father Tom asked PAC members to speak with you briefly about stewardship, and specifically about sharing our treasure with the Church. We recognize that Catholic Charities and others have spoken at Mass recently seeking our financial support; our schools, universities and other charities are asking for money as the tax year closes; and with Christmas approaching, we are likely spending more than at other times of the year. So we acknowledge our timing may not be great. But, then again, our timing might actually be perfect. Our giving to God and the Church should really be an extension of our prayer and faith life. With our busy lives, we all struggle to devote time to God. The key, of course, is to make God and prayer the central priority in our lives and then fit every-thing else in and around our faith. So, too, with our treasure. How we spend our money reflects our priorities and attachments in life. The question we pose today is whether our financial priorities could use a little re-balancing. The Church does not dictate how much we should give, only that “the faithful are obliged to assist with the mate-rial needs of the Church, each according to his own ability.” We are asking that we all prayerfully consider the priority that our weekly free will offering is and if circumstances in our lives might possibly allow it to be a higher priority than it is right now. And we specifically ask that you use either Faith Direct or the weekly donation envelopes. One way to make financial stew-ardship a priority is to prayerfully decide what we can give, and then lock in that commitment through use of Faith Direct so that God gets paid first every week. But we know many people prefer to use the envelopes, and that’s fine, too. The Diocese of Arlington has specifically asked St. Joe’s to in-crease our use of Faith Direct or envelopes from our current 26% of parishioners to at least 40%. In our parish of 3,800 families, this would be about 600 new families using either Faith Direct or the envelopes. So we ask for your help in meeting this goal. You can sign up for Faith Direct at faithdi-rect.net using our church code of VA101. If you prefer to use envelopes, you can call the parish office and ask. There will be reminders in the bulletin over the next month to help you. You’ve probably noticed that there’s been a special focus in the bulletin during Advent on stewardship of our time, talents and treasure. Each family also should have received a mailing regarding stewardship and the use of Faith Direct. And last week’s bulletin included a very helpful summary of the St. Joseph Catholic Church Financial Report for this past fiscal year. We thank the Finance Committee and St. Joseph staff

Stewardship Presentation Cont’d… for making this summary available to us. So, as we prepare to celebrate the Coming of our Savior into our lives, we ask that we all prayerfully read and discuss these materials with our families and decide how we all can best “make a return to the Lord for all the good He has done for me.” Thank you for your time and continued generosity, and God bless. Greg Bengzon Terry McNulty Marylou Bergeron Jim Nash Frank Bowen (Vice Chairperson) Mark Overberg Chairperson) Cindi Conroy Tom Reilly Tisha Hilliard (Secretary) Cheryl Wilson

The Franciscan Friars, TOR

ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH Visit us on our website! HERNDON, VIRGINIA http://www.sjcherndon.org * 703-880-4300 January 1, 2017

THE YOUTH MINISTRY CORNER “Revolving Our Lives Around Christ”

Updated Youth Ministry Calendar is now available online for 2017: For all those interested in attending upcoming youth ministry events, please check out our calendar on the youth ministry page at www.sjcherndon.org. Youth Ministry reconvenes from the winter break on Sunday, January 8th.

MUSIC MINISTRY For information regarding this ministry, please contact: Alice Eelman, Director of Music, at 703-880-4321. www.mamusicstudio.com

Catechism Classes Resume January, (Sat.) 7th, (Sun.) 8th, (Mon.) 9th, & (Tues) 10th

The Rites of Acceptance and Welcoming On Sunday, January 8th (The Epiphany) during the 10:00 a.m. Mass, St. Joseph’s Parish will be having the “Rites of Acceptance and Welcoming.” These two rites

are part of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (R.C.I.A.). The rite of acceptance is for the unbaptized adults and is the first step in which they will be received into the Order of Cate-chumens. As catechumens they will commit themselves to learning and growing in the Catholic Faith. The rite of wel-coming is for those baptized Christians of another faith who desire to become Catholic and those Catholics seeking to com-plete their Christian Initiation (Confirmation and Eucharist). This year our parish has 18 adults and 9 children in RCIA (English) who will be presented by their sponsor. Please pray for them as they make their journey toward Christ and His Church. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

On January (Sunday) 15th, (Monday) 16th, & (Tuesday) 17th there will not be any Religious Education classes in ob-servance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Classes will resume the following week on January 22nd, 23rd, & 24th.

Annual Basketball Free Throw Competition - The Knights of Columbus Good Samaritan Council will hold its annual Basketball

Free Throw Competition in the parish school gym on Monday, January 16th from Noon-2:00 PM. This event is open to all boys and girls ages 9-14. Registration and practice shots will be from Noon-1:00 p.m. before competi-tion begins. A parent or guardian must be present to sign an entry form. Winners in each age group will compete in district competition where they may advance to the state level. For more information contact Jim Nasakaitis at (202) 674-2033 or jnasakaitis@verizon.net.

Are you Seeking More?! Join Us in January! Wednesdays, 1:30-3pm - The Book of Revelations ~ Jeff Cavins, presenter ~ a walk through Revelations, the Kingdom Yet to Come (10 weeks) Fridays, 9-11am - Catholicism: The Pivotal Players - Bishop Robert Barron’s newest series, exploring six players who’ve shaped Catholi-cism & civilization (St Francis of Assisi, St Catherine of Siena, St Thomas Aquinas, Bl. John Henry Newman, GK Chesterton & Michaelangelo)! (6 weeks) Please contact Amy at speetjens@verizon.net or 703.318.7311 for more information, to signup and to order materials. Come grow & learn together!!

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR OF THE WEEK